Call me a weirdo, but watching my kid eat is one of my favorite parts of parenting. Seeing his reaction to different tastes and textures, how he grows more adept at picking up and maneuvering small pieces, his discovering he can attempt to slyly slip the dog a few bites — sometimes different meals feel like milestones. Add allergies to the mix, and constant redirection to make sure he’s not scratching himself silly during dinner and it’s also been pretty stressful. (We’ve found keeping a small toy on his tray also helps keep one of his hands busy so he’s less likely to scratch.)

We took Emmett to a specialist for testing (scratch test, blood draw) a few weeks ago. It turns out little E is VERY allergic to sesame (something we suspected after his hummus episode), all nuts, chickpeas, soy, wheat, barley, garlic, oat, egg white and dog. He’s also mildly allergic to milk. We now carry Epi pens in the diaper bag.

Those results were pretty overwhelming for us, so we stocked up some books and sought out support from friends. Turns out Jen’s son has a few allergies of his own, and these days the internet abounds with recipe ideas. (Kristen recently went gluten-free!) Right now, it’s pretty manageable because we can continue to feed him his basic “paleo-esque” veggies, fruits and meats diet. When he realizes he’s once again eating sweet potatoes while his parents chow down on homemade pizza, or if he doesn’t grow out of many of these before school starts, it’s going to be a lot harder.

We’re getting creative, though. Everyone in this house, down to Wilbur, is a big fan of pancakes. Seriously, they are Wilbur’s favorite. Check out pancake crazy eye.

We didn’t want Emmett to miss out on a weekend treat. Joe found a Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free, soy-free pancake mix and we used a banana to bind it and watered down the required milk. They stuck a bit to the pan, but in the end tasted like little banana bread cakes!

We’ve also tried and liked Ancient Grains garden pagodas quinoa pasta (which Joe picked up at Whole Foods) to replace his beloved rotini. Emmett snarfed quite a bit the other night and I liked what I sampled! Dole mixed fruit cups are also a great grab-and-go when we don’t have fresh pears or something on hand. They aren’t packed in syrup and don’t include artificial sweeteners, and I rinse them before serving. I got a pack at Hy-Vee.